As I Set the World On Fire
by Bookdancer
Summary: Clint is on a mission- blow up one of AIM's headquarters. What happens when he's delayed and he only has minutes to make it out alive? Two-Shot. A second version to the original has been added. Second chapter contains TonyxClint.
1. Chapter 1

**Is there a song called that or something? Cause I recognize the words. I dunno... I just liked the sound of the title, so there it is. Anyway, I got this from a prompt (in my creative writing club) and it's 'time'. This is what I came up with.**

**I do not own The Avengers, no matter how much I wish I do.**

****As I Set the World on Fire

Clint stared at the man in front of him. He was dressed in casual jeans and a college sweatshirt, but Clint had no doubt that he was dangerous. The gun the man was pointing at him, point blank, was proof of that.

"C'mon, Justin." The archer said calmly, holding his hands up in a nonthreatening way. He glanced at his watch. 6:54:02 blinked at him, steadily climbing. He had a little less than six minutes until the building blew up. "You don't want to do this. I know you don't." Justin Holbrook was an old Shield agent. After Clint had killed his partner while under Loki's control, he defected. He was now apart of AIM, or Advanced Idea Mechanics, and this building was one of AIM's headquarters. Clint had been sent in to set the bombs that would detonate at 7:00:00 pm.

"How do you know what I want?" Holbrook yelled angrily. His hand shook, but he steadied it with his other. "If you knew what I wanted, you wouldn't have killed Patrick!"

_6:55:16_

"I know." Clint said, attempting to step closer to the exit. Holbrook didn't seem to notice. "But that wasn't me. That was Loki."

_6:56:20_

"It may have been Loki's control, but it was your aim. Your body. Your skill. Your arrow." Holbrook hissed, his hands no longer shaking. "And-"

Holbrook stopped mid-sentence when he saw Clint shift closer to the door again. He fired a warning shot over Clint's shoulder, shattering the glass of a window.

"Don't move!" He shrieked. Clint stood still.

_6:57:48_

"You're mad, Justin." Clint said. He needed to get out. "We can help you."

_6:48:01_

"You mean help me blow up this building?" Holbrook's voice was scathing.

_6:58:15_

Clint froze. Holbrook was smarter than he appeared. He glanced at his watch again.

_6:58:23_

"Well tough luck." Holbrook said, smiling widely. He truly was mad. "If I and the building go down, you're coming with us. No one is making it out of this alive."

_6:59:04_

Holbrook's arm lowered slightly as he whipped around, blue eyes flashing, and fired off several shots into the darkness when something rustled. That was when Clint moved.

The blonde darted forward and wrapped a muscular arm around the other man's neck. He jerked backward, turning, and slammed Holbrook into the wall, grappling for the gun. The gun roared, and Holbrook cried out. Clint's sharp eyes caught the darkening blue of the man's jeans. The bullet had hit Holbrook's leg.

Clint clutched the gun in his hand as he raced for the door.

_6:59:57_

The agent flung the door open, starting down the steps.

_6:59:59_

He lunged forward into a sprint as he touched concrete.

_7:00:00_

The bomb went off, illuminating Clint in a red glare as flames billowed from the building, the force sending Clint flying. He landed in a roll, standing up silently and making his way toward another building at the end of the street. He walked proudly, though limping slightly.

_7:01:17_

**So what'd you guys think? I like it for how fast I wrote it. The inspiration just piled up and then... boom! Finished one-shot in about thirty or forty minutes. By the way, this is a one-shot (as I just said). Don't hesitate to review, though! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey, so _csuiwannabe99 _inspired this second chapter. It's not completely connected to the first one, as in this Clint doesn't get out in time. Anyway, to:_

_everyone who reviewed, followed, and/or favorited- Thanks so much! It means a lot that a little one-shot (or what started as one) got so much attention. Hope you enjoy the new chappie!_

_csuiwannabe99- Hope you enjoy this, even though it's probably not what you had in mind._

_WARNING- boyxboy (TonyxClint)_

_IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE AN PLEASE DO SO NOW!_

_I do not own The Avengers._

As I Set the World On Fire

Chapter Two

_He would be okay. He would make it. He would live._

That was the mantra repeating itself, over and over, inside Tony's head. His boyfriend would be alright. But, as the seconds ticked by and minutes passed, Tony was beginning to doubt his words. That was when the door to the AIM building flew open and Tony managed to glimpse blond hair and a black and purple suit before the building exploded. The billionaire gaped, stunned, before coming back to life mere seconds after to scream his boyfriend's name.

"CLINT! NO!" Ripped out of his throat, the words hung heavily in the air behind him as he ran down the block, clumsily tripping over debris laying in the street before reaching a large pile of blockage that prevented him from reaching the archer.

Steve, Natasha, Thor, and Bruce ran after him, getting to the blockage right as Tony began throwing debris behind him, attempting to find Clint.

"Tony, wait!" Steve said urgently, gripping Tony's arm in an attempt to stop him. "If you move one wrong piece, the entire building could collapse on top of him!"

"Steve, I don't know if you've noticed yet, but that's already happened!" Tony practically screamed.

"I know." The words came out somberly, causing Tony to actually look at the other man. "But we don't want to make things worse. It'd be better to wait for backup. SHIELD should already be on its way, and I bet other people are coming, too. We could even get Hulk in if we need to. But doing it all by yourself is not going to help.

Tony took a deep breath. "Okay." He whispered. "Alright. But I'm _not_ going-"

He stopped mid sentence, sending a wounded look to Natasha before crumpling into Thor's arms as Natasha tucked the needle she'd used to knock Tony out back into one of her endless pockets.

* * *

Clint let out a groan as light flicker outside his closed eyelids, attempting to breach the walls Clint had set up. Almost immediately he sensed someone moving to his bedside before Steve's voice filled the silence.

"Hey, Clint, think you can open your eyes for me? I have someone here who's very eager to see that gray-blue." With the words came a comforting squeeze on his left hand, and Clint took a minute to thank whoever had saved his shooting arm before blinking his eyes open.

They immediately found Steve, who was hovering above him with an anxious expression on his face. As soon as Clint's eyes opened, however, he beamed.

"'ere's Tony?" Clint muttered groggily, his eyes scanning the room.

Steve nodded next to Clint, an amused smile on his face. "Natasha did her job well."

Clint managed to turn his head to see his boyfriend on the chair next to his head, Tony's own head tipped back as he slept. With a sigh, he shut his eyes.

"What, Clint, what are you doing?"

"He's sleeping, so he can't see my eyes. Wake me up when he's not asleep."

Steve gaped at the other blonde before moving to Tony, sensing that Clint was actually pretty serious.

"Tony, wake up." Steve said, shaking the billionaire. "Clint just woke up and he's going back to sleep unless you wake up." He paused, blinking at the two sleeping boyfriends, who hadn't even stirred, before sighing. "Fine, sleep."

He settled back into his chair next to Clint's bed, hesitating just a second before laying his head next to Clint's bandaged right arm, cushioning it on his own arms. It was in that position that he fell asleep, happy in the knowledge that his teammates were safe.

_And this is officially the end. I hope you all enjoyed reading this (both versions- where he got out safely and when he didn't)._

_Please review!_


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